LUCKNOW: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has hinted that he endorses the demand within BJP and the larger Sangh Parivar for projecting Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections. His remarks came immediately after three saints at a VHP meet, at Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, demanded that Modi be projected as the PM candidate. Bhagwat reacted by saying, "what is in everybody's heart and mind should be acknowledged by those who have to decide who should lead the nation."

Speaking at the VHP meet attended by an estimated 2 lakh saints, Bhagwat said, "the media asks me who would lead the nation... who should be brought forward in elections. But whatever I say, it is ultimately a decision to be taken by those who are authorised to do so." While he put the ball in BJP's court, on taking the final call on projecting Modi as PM, Bhagwat gave clear hints: "If they do not pay heed to the demand of the people, they will face the consequences. What is in people minds and hearts should be acknowledged," he said immediately on hearing slogans raised in favour of Modi by some saints. Before Bhagwat's speech, Swami Kaushlendra, Swami Ramanujacharya and Swami Vasudevacharya called for projecting Modi as PM. The VHP meet was plastered with posters which said, "Modi lao desh bachao (Bring Modi, save the nation)".

Bhagwat said "the one who sits on the chair will be the one who makes the temple (read Ram temple in Ayodhya). They should do what people feel strongly about. We as the Sangh Parivar feel that whoever sits on the chair would ask us what we expect from them". The VHP had earlier given a call for building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya and even BJP chief Rajnath Singh had said in Allahabad that the party stood by its commitment to build a temple in Ayodhya.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Bhagwat tried to evade questions on projecting Modi as the PM candidate. "Modi is my friend," he said when asked about any discussion on the name of Modi as PM. When pressed for his views, he said, "I am not a political person, I am not here on a political visit."